German court rules Apple infringed Qualcomm patent

MUNICH (Reuters) - A German court ruled on Thursday that iPhone maker Apple Inc (AAPL.O) infringed a hardware patent of Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O) and said the U.S. company could no longer sell some iPhone models in Germany which contain a particular component.

The ruling is not final as Apple can appeal to a higher court, judge Matthias Zigann told the court.

The German case is Qualcomm’s third major effort to secure a ban on Apple’s lucrative iPhones over patent infringement allegations after similar court efforts in the United States and in China, one of which resulted in Chinese court ordering a ban on sales of some iPhones there earlier this month.

(This version of the story corrects detail on appeal process in second paragraph)